Krugman on Republican victimology, aka, whining

The substance of current politics aside, what’s truly striking is the prevalence of cries of victimization. And it's not lily-livered liberals who do the whining — they’re actually relatively stoic. No, it’s the supposed defenders of individualism and the American way. The wife of Rick Perry — who, given his performance recently, has obviously led an incredibly charmed and sheltered political life until now — believes that he's being persecuted for his faith. Wall Street billionaires complain that the president has been looking at them funny, or whine that protestors don’t understand how much taxes they pay. Right-wing operatives with incredibly good lives compared with most Americans complain about having to work hard.

There's no single source for this. Some of the very wealthy have always had a tendency to blubber like babies whenever they are criticized. But the victory of Southern segregationist thinking and Christian Right prominence in the Republican Party have made the whiny-white-folks act much more common in politics. And, of course, the chief ideologue of the Republican Party, junkie bigot Rush Limbaugh, makes that part of his daily schtick.

And to say the obvious: there are a lot of legitimate things to complain about in the US today. But complaints that the hedge-fund barons and trust fund babies are being picked on by the mean libruls or that Christians are being persecuted for their religious faith in the United States are not particularly attractive or credible.